Note to journaliststs. There are two linked press releases below: the first describes the scientific findings. The second describes the challenges of working in the Amazon forest. How the Amazon rainforest is likely to cope with the effect of future drought New study identifies regions in the rainforest most at risk from drier conditions Drought will reduce the rainforest’s ability to remove carbon from the environment A major collaboration involving 80 scientists from Europe and South America has identified the regions of the Amazon rainforest where trees are most likely to face the greatest risk from drier ...

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have unraveled the processes that give astrocytes, the most abundant glial cell in the brain, their special bushy shape, which is fundamental for brain function. They report in the journal Nature that neuronal activity is necessary and sufficient for astrocytes to develop their complex shape, and interrupting this developmental process results in disrupted brain function. “Astrocytes play diverse roles that are vital for proper brain function,” said first author  Yi-Ting Cheng, a graduate student in Dr. Benjamin Deneen’s lab at Baylor. “For instance, they support the activity of other essential brain cells, ...

The new chemical process is not limited to wind turbine blades but works on many different so-called fibre-reinforced epoxy composites, including some materials that are reinforced with especially costly carbon fibres. Thus, the process can contribute to establishing a potential circular economy in the wind turbine, aerospace, automotive and space industries, where these reinforced composites, due to their light weight and long durability, are used for load-bearing structures. Being designed to last, the durability of the blades poses an ...

"Previously we had seen both the black hole and the jet in separate images, but now we have taken a panoramic picture of the black hole together with its jet at a new wavelength”, says Ru-Sen Lu, from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and leader of a Max Planck Research Group at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The surrounding material is thought to fall into the black hole in a process known as accretion. But no one has ever imaged it directly. "The ring that we have seen before is becoming larger and thicker at 3.5 mm observing wavelength. This shows that the material falling into the black hole produces additional emission that is now observed in the new ...

In 2017, astronomers captured the first image of a black hole by coordinating radio dishes around the world to act as a single, planet-sized telescope. The synchronized network, known collectively as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), focused in on M87*, the black hole at the center of the nearby Messier 87 galaxy. The telescope’s laser-focused resolution revealed a very thin glowing ring around a dark center, representing the first visual of a black hole’s shadow.  Astronomers have now refocused their view to capture a new layer of M87*. The team, including scientists at MIT’s Haystack Observatory, has harnessed ...

Astronomers in the Canadian-led CHIME/FRB Collaboration have doubled the number of known repeating sources of mysterious flashes of radio waves, known as fast radio bursts (FRBs). Among them are astronomers from the University of Toronto. Through the discovery of 25 new repeating sources (for a total of 50), the team also solidified the idea that all FRBs may eventually repeat. FRBs are considered one of the biggest mysteries in astronomy, but their exact origins are unknown. Astronomers do know that they come from far outside of our Milky Way, and are likely produced by the cinders left behind after stars die. Most of the thousands of FRBs that astronomers have discovered to ...

For the first time, astronomers have observed, in the same image, the shadow of the black hole at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) and the powerful jet expelled from it. The observations were done in 2018 with telescopes from the Global Millimetre VLBI Array (GMVA), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which ESO is a partner, and the Greenland Telescope (GLT). Thanks to this new image, astronomers can better understand how black holes can launch such energetic jets. Most galaxies harbour a supermassive black hole at their centre. While black holes are known for ...

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) will present the 2023 David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award to Hagop Kantarjian, M.D., chair of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, for his contributions to leukemia clinical research and his dedication to improving the lives of patients. “Cancer research and patient care have been my life’s passion and mission and, I am honored to be recognized by ASCO with the society’s highest scientific award,” Kantarjian said. “I am grateful for all of the outstanding investigators in the Leukemia Department and outside ...

The researchers focused on 66 PFAS compounds for their study. These can be grouped into three categories: 1) PFAS groups that have been regulated for some time; 2) new PFAS that industry uses as substitutes for regulated PFAS; and 3) precursors that can degrade to other, more persistent PFAS. However, because these individual analyses can detect only a small fraction of the more than 10,000 PFAS used by industry and because many polyfluorinated compounds cannot be measured because of the lack of analytical ...

New research involving Cambridge University has found evidence — locked into an ancient stalagmite from a cave in the Himalayas — of a series of severe and lengthy droughts which may have upturned the Bronze Age Indus Civilization. The beginning of this arid period — starting at around 4,200 years ago and lasting for over two centuries — coincides with the reorganization of the metropolis-building Indus Civilization, which spanned present-day Pakistan and India. The research ...

For the rational design of new material compounds, it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying their synthesis. Analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance and spectroscopy are usually employed to study such mechanisms in molecular reactions. However, reaction pathways governing the formation of solid-state crystalline compounds remain poorly understood. This is partly due to the extreme temperatures and inhomogeneous reactions observed in solid-state compounds. Further, the presence of numerous atoms in solid crystalline compounds ...

Some things are related, others are not. Suppose you randomly select a person from a crowd who is significantly taller than the average. In that case, there is a good chance that they will also weigh more than the average. Statistically, one quantity also contains some information about the other. Quantum physics allows for even stronger links between different quantities: different particles or parts of an extensive quantum system can "share" a certain amount of information. There are curious theoretical predictions about this: surprisingly, ...

Farming is one of the oldest activities in the world and has always been at the forefront of technological innovation. With mechanized equipment, modified seeds, and digital devices, every aspect of farming, from planting to harvesting is gradually getting optimized. These benefits have also translated to better crop yield estimation for crops such as soybean. Deep learning-based yield estimation models use approaches like regression, traditional bounding boxes, or density maps to make counting of seeds easier. Compared ...

Using hydrophones to eavesdrop on a reef off the coast of Goa, India, researchers have helped advance a new low-cost way to monitor changes in the world’s murky marine environments. Reporting their results in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), the scientists recorded the duration and timing of mating and feeding sounds – songs, croaks, trumpets and drums – of 21 of the world’s noise-making ocean species.  With artificial intelligence and other pioneering techniques to discern ...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common form of pancreatic cancer. It’s also one of the deadliest. More than 90% of PDAC patients die within five years of diagnosis. Usually, by the time the cancer is identified, it has already spread. “PDAC is often found too late for treatments like chemotherapy and surgery to be very effective,” Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Adrian Krainer says. “But if we can clearly understand the underlying genetic mechanisms of PDAC, this might lead to earlier diagnoses and new types of therapies.” Krainer ...

Modern cameras and sensors, together with image processing algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI), are ushering in a new era of precision agriculture and plant breeding. In the near future, farmers and scientists will be able to quantify various plant traits by simply pointing special imaging devices at plants. However, some obstacles must be overcome before these visions become a reality. A major issue faced during image-sensing is the difficulty of combining data from the same plant gathered from multiple image sensors, also known as ‘multispectral’ or ‘multimodal’ ...

Metagenomic sequencing (mNGS) is a powerful diagnostic tool to detect causative pathogens in clinical microbiological testing. Rapid and accurate classification of metagenomic sequences is a critical procedure for pathogen identification in the dry-lab step of mNGS tests. However, this crucial step may be improved by classifying sequences within a clinically relevant timeframe. To address this challenge, a BGI Genomics team led by Xuebin Wang has recently launched GPMeta, an ultra-fast pathogen detection approach, and published these highlights ...

In the United States suicide has become the second leading cause of premature death among those ages 10 to 24; it is the leading cause of death among teens ages 13 to 14. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators conducted a study exploring trends in rates of suicide among 13 to 14 year olds in the U.S. from 1999 to 2018. They also explored possible modifications by sex, race, level of urbanization, census region, month of the year and day of the week.    Results, published online ahead of print in the journal Annals of Pediatrics and Child Health, showed that among children ages 13 to 14, suicide rates ...

Researchers from University of Notre Dame and The Ohio State University published a new Journal of Marketing study that examines how the use of unconventional spellings of a brand name impacts consumers’ inferences about and willingness to support the brand. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “‘Choozing’ the Best Spelling: Consumer Response to Unconventionally Spelled Brand Names” and is authored by John P. Costello, Jesse Walker, and Rebecca Walker Reczek. Choosing a brand ...

Development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 has been rapid, but the rise of variants forces scientists to frequently modify treatments. Ideally, therapies would target mutation-resistant viral proteins, but this has proven difficult. Researchers reporting in ACS Central Science, however, have now developed a system that directly targets and degrades the viral RNA genome, reducing infection in mice. The method could be adapted to fight off many viruses, as well as treat various diseases. Vaccines and antiviral drugs typically target proteins critical to viral infection and replication. This ...

Research Highlights: U.S. adults who reported feeling highly discriminated against at work had an increased risk of developing high blood pressure than those who reported low discrimination at work. Researchers suggest government and employer anti-discrimination policies and interventions may help to eliminate discrimination in the workplace. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET Wednesday, April 26, 2023 DALLAS, April 26, 2023 — U.S. adults who reported feeling discriminated against at work had a higher risk for developing high ...

Safer and more effective blood thinners could be on the way following a groundbreaking discovery by researchers at UBC and the University of Michigan, published today in Nature Communications. By combining their expertise in blood clotting systems and chemical synthesis, the researchers have designed a new compound called MPI 8 that offers the potential to prevent blood clots without any increased risk of bleeding—a common side effect of existing blood thinners. “The development of MPI 8 represents a major breakthrough in the field of blood clot prevention and treatment,” said Dr. Jay Kizhakkedathu, a professor and Canada Research ...

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, King’s College London and University College London have shed light on the genetics behind changes in the structure and shape of the face and head in a mouse model of Down Syndrome. Described in a paper published today in Development, the researchers found that having a third copy of the gene Dyrk1a and at least three other genes were responsible for these changes taking place in development – called craniofacial dysmorphology – which involve shortened back-to-front length and widened diameter of the head. Affecting ...

ROCKVILLE, Md.—Gestational weight gain may be associated with autism-related behaviors among children who have a greater pre-disposition to these behaviors and who have mothers with pre-pregnancy overweight or obesity, according to a new study in Obesity, The Obesity Society’s (TOS) flagship journal. Excessive gestational weight gain has been associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes in children, including autism spectrum disorder and related traits. However, it is unclear how pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) or familial susceptibility to autism spectrum disorder influences the gestational weight gain-autism traits association, ...

It is a common custom in some countries for individuals to take a siesta or midday nap. Sleeping during the middle of the day has the potential to affect sleep quality, cognitive function, and metabolic processes. However, the relationship between siestas and metabolic health is not well understood. A new study led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, assessed more than 3,000 adults from a Mediterranean population, examining the relationship of siestas and siesta duration with obesity and metabolic syndrome. The researchers found that those who took siestas of 30 minutes or longer (long siestas) were more ...